The health and wellbeing of a workforce goes hand in hand with the success and productivity levels at any company – how can you ensure that you are looking after your staff and, therefore, looking after your business.

Regardless of your industry, staff size and reputation, you should always be aware that the safety, wellbeing and the health of every member of your team is an essential part of your duty of care as an employer.

Above all else, you should ensure that health and safety regulations are being followed and that employees feel they have the opportunity to be listened to, if they feel they have a problem regarding such issues.

Health & Safety

The below facts (Source: HSE) highlight how important Health & Safety legislation is to the UK’s workforce:

• 175,000 over-7-day absence injuries occurred (LFS) (2012/13)
• 27 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury (2011/12)
• Workplace injuries and ill health (excluding cancer) cost society an estimated £13.8 billion in 2010/11
• 133 workers killed at work (2013/14)

If you’re an employer of any kind, you will be required, by law, to enforce particular regimes or regulations, which aren’t always easy to apply, so Business Health Partners can help with this.

We have various blogs on the different aspects of health and safety law for different businesses, including:

• Hand / Arm Vibration Syndrome
• Lung Function Testing
• Hearing Tests

Be clear that looking after your workforce is ultimately looking after your business – lost work days and low productivity all have a negative impact on your profits and reputation. Ensure these are controlled, by being a caring and reasonable employer who ensures your employees receive what they should.

Mental Wellbeing

When it comes to looking after your workforce, not all companies have strict health and safety regulations and not all lost work days and profits come from health and safety-related incidents. The mental wellbeing of your workforce is equally important.

Sickness absence due to stress and stress-related conditions or other wellbeing affected issues can have just as much of an impact as the health and safety-related absences.

• Evidence shows that 90% of people with common health conditions can be helped back to work by following a few basic principles of good healthcare and workplace management. [Source: uk]
• The Centre for Mental Health estimates that the total economic and social cost of mental health problems amounts to £105 billion per year – the majority of this being individual human costs (Centre for Mental Health, 2010). [Source: uk]
• Studies suggest that, on average, GPs detect only about 50 per cent of cases of anxiety or depression (Gask et al., 2009; Mitchell et al., 2009; Kessler et al., 2002). [Source: uk]

Employee wellbeing relies on the employer providing a happy workplace but it is equally important that all employees are responsible and professional co-workers.

Work-related stress is a key condition that falls under an employee wellbeing management programme, which is why we cover this issue alone in an upcoming blog.

Business Health Partners says…

Whether your focus on employee wellbeing is via policies, people or performance, Business Health Partners have the experience and knowledge of different industries and regulations to guide you through (or implement on your behalf) a robust programme.

As an occupational health provider, we are committed to helping organisations and employees to:

• Develop a systematic approach to dealing with long-term absence
• Understand the most appropriate responses to the specific circumstances of each case
• Identify the most useful sources of further guidance and information
• Ensure your organisation’s response to long-term absence is effective and in line with relevant legislation and best practice
• Get links to sources of advice, information and best practice

If you’d like to know more about the occupational health services, training and consultancy that we provide, why not call 07720 956789 or if you like what you hear, follow us at @BusinessHealth_.